Suzi Digby, directing the ORA Singers, chats with us about why music matters!
Music in Action: Can you share a bit about your background and journey in music?
Suzi Dugby:
I’m an international choral conductor and music educator. I founded The Voices Foundation, a national arts education charity, in 1992 – focussing on the development of primary music education across the UK by helping to train teachers and inspire music uptake among students.
I also founded Voce Chamber Choir, who I continue to perform with regularly; Vocal Futures, nurturing young audiences for classical music; and London Youth Choirs, a pyramid of ten choirs for ages 7–23, helping thousands of young Londoners each year access the joys and benefits of singing.
I’m also a visiting professor at the University of Southern California (Choral Studies), where my professional vocal consort, The Golden Bridge, is based. Launched in 2014, we specialize in commissioning Californian composers.
February 2016 saw the launch of the multi award-winning ORA Singers in London. We have since established a reputation as one of the finest vocal ensembles in Europe and become the leading commissioners of new choral music in the world.
Music in Action: What do you consider incisive moments in your career?
Suzi Dugby:
Going to Hungary in 1990 to observe the Kodaly methodology, at its apex, in Kecskemet.
My Voices Foundation being integrated into the Government’s National Plan for music in 2011.
The launch of my London Youth Choir (now 10 choirs) in 2012.
Conducting the first ever Youth Scratch Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall with over 1,200 young singers in 2014.
Establishing ORA Singers as the leading commissioner of new choral music in the world today.
ORA Singers 40-part concert in the Tate Modern Turbine Hall, which was livestreamed to a global audience of over 300,000 during the COVID lockdown of 2020.
Receiving the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik (German Record Critics' Award) in 2024 for ORA Singers’ album Sanctissima.
Performing with the Rolling Stones during their Saturday night headline slot on the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival!
Music in Action: Talk to us about your collaboration with Music in Action and why you think music matters so much?
Suzi Dugby:
The 80th Anniversary of Liberation in Jersey is a phenomenally important milestone, for many reasons. Particularly in today’s frightening world. This is likely to be the last major anniversary that the occupation survivors will be present at. In my view, nothing can express the terror of occupation and the joy of liberation as well as music does. We will be bringing ORA Singers to Jersey to mark Liberation 80 in May with a powerful programme of choral music which will speak to the heart of these issues. Our aim is that this programme will make people feel deeply and appreciate the importance of their historic sacrifice.
Before then, in March, I’ll be coming to Jersey to work in local secondary schools. This will start the process of creating awareness of the historical significance of Jersey’s Liberation and to instil in the children the joy and power of singing as a means of understanding and identifying with others. And their value, as young musicians.
Music in Action: What can we expect from the ORA concert on the 16th May 2025?
Suzi Dugby:
As stated above, to move people deeply and enable them to identify with the trials of those during the occupation and the unparalleled joy of liberation and all that implies.
We will perform some of the most powerful choral pieces in history, by composers who’ve experienced similar occupations and a longing for liberation – including a brand new work by the leading Polish choral composer, Paweł Łukaszewski. This work sets music to Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Prayers in the Time of Distress; poignant writings born of the theologian’s faith under the grim shadow of a Nazi concentration camp, where he died just two weeks before its liberation.
Music in Action: What do you think is so special about choir repertoire specifically?
Suzi Dugby:
Two elements:
It involves text. The composer is responding to a specific text (which the listener can understand) with his/her own interpretation. Nothing is a more powerful expression of human emotion and ideas.
It involves the human singing voice – an activity that involves the whole body, mind and soul.
Music in Action: What can we look forward to from you next? Commissions, performances, recordings, other projects?
Suzi Dugby:
We have mapped out our commissions through to our 10th Anniversary in 2026. This will culminate in our 100th commission by Brett Dean. This series of commissions creates a legacy connecting the two Golden Ages of choral music: the Renaissance and present day. Renaissance Gems and their Reflections. In parallel with this, we have our Cultural Bridges series which brings together various music traditions – Carnatic, Afro-Cuban, Calypso, Persian – around the theme of the ‘creation of light’.
Later this year, we honour the great Renaissance composer Orlando Gibbons in the 400th year of his death with a special programme featuring six contemporary reflections by: Harry Baker, Brian Current, Marco Galvani, Nicola LeFanu, Cecilia McDowall and Will Todd. These will be premiered in concert at St Martin-in-the-Fields on 17 June, before being put to disc for release as our 11th album. To commission, perform and record is at the heart of all that we do!
Music in Action: Name a couple of singers, composers or conductors you would have liked to perform/work with if they were still alive, and explain why.
Suzi Dugby:
Singer: Ella Fitzgerald – because she is, to me, the most perfect example of the consummate singing musician!
Composer: Haydn – his Creation is one of the greatest choral/orchestral works ever. He was the first truly bi-cultural composer. And was a massive influence on the music of his future.
Conductor: Carlos Kleiber – the greatest in recorded history. Because of his technical and musical genius and his ability (and integrity) to pick and choose what he conducted in his mature career.
Music in Action: Which instrument/s, other than the violin, would you wish to be a virtuoso at and why?
Suzi Dugby:
My voice! Because no other instrument can express the musical universe in the same way. (Second is piano: apart from somehow managing to get 148 in my Grade 8, my skills are quite limited!)